Behold, this is what happens when the liberal left get their grubby little hands on a health care system! This is a scandal in the UK, basically hospitals were being paid money by the government to put seriously ill adults on something called the 'liverpool care pathway' sometimes without their relatives consent. Doctors were picking patients they felt they could give up on. And the death hastening doesn't involve a merciful overdose of morphine, but taking nutrients and fluid away. There have been several cases where relatives of these patients found out, forced the doctors to put the family members back on fluids and nutrients and the patients actually recovered enough to leave hospital. One report showed a sprightly old lady sitting with her family by the fire.

Let me just say Iam british and I believed the NHS as setup was an imperfect but decent solution to looking after public health. It was also cost effective in my opinion. But unfortunately over the years it was perverted and expanded to an unwieldly all powerful bureaucratic behmoth where the nurses were seen as the 'nations angels' and any criticism was met with derision. It also became heavily unionised and the NHS is the third largest public service employer on the planet. Politicians over the years thanks to their open door immigration policies where immigrants and asylum seekers have full access to health care, free if not working ,then couple that with an aging population and the NHS delving into treatments that might be deemed an extravagance such as cosmetic surgery, weight loss surgeries have caused the NHS to be not fit for purpose and unable to cope with the pressure.

What we are now seeing in the UK,is accident and emergency units closing up and down the country,far too many degree educated unionised nurses who think interacting with patients is beneath them, and rather nasty secretive policies to stop treating 'hopeless' cases.

Now I don't think any health care system is perfect, I think the NHS as I said earlier the idea of it makes a lot of sense, but unfortunately the liberal left have been allowed to run amuck with the service and basically broken it. The future doesn't look bright for healthcare, I can see more cuts, and gradual inroads to selling off parts of the NHS to private providers, maybe even means testing where those who can afford it pay more. Maybe decision taken about whether certain injuries and conditions can be covered if the patient had a hand in creating them. The problem is all these solutions have downsides and it means quality of care can suffer. For instance the UK has a terrible record when it comes to selling off publically owned utilities and putting them in the private sector, service suffers.

So Palin while much mocked had a point. This government is now investigating the hospitals regarding this care pathway thing, yet it was their idea to pay money to those hospitals who instituted it, so essentially they are investigating themselves. What also happens in the UK is the ludicrous situation where certain drugs and treatments are only availiable in certain counties so essentially you can get treatment for a serious illness on the state in one area but not another ,so your choice is to die or go private. Now apparently children were put on the 'pathway'.

Exactly! No offense to our UK friend, but this illustrates one of the major reasons US healthcare is A#1 in the world. Privatized insurance in our country assures every person gets top-notch treatment, as well as preventative care, and they will leave no stone unturned to provide state-of-the-art healing, at any cost.

Nevermind that even to this day, you would be hard-pressed to find a single non-right wing source that isn't completely baffled how someone with a remotely intelligent IQ could even believe 1/10th of what comes out of Palin's mouth.

PolitiFact's Lie of the Year: 'Death panels'

Of all the falsehoods and distortions in the political discourse this year, one stood out from the rest.

"Death panels."

The claim set political debate afire when it was made in August, raising issues from the role of government in health care to the bounds of acceptable political discussion. In a nod to the way technology has transformed politics, the statement wasn't made in an interview or a television ad. Sarah Palin posted it on her Facebook page.

Her assertion â€” that the government would set up boards to determine whether seniors and the disabled were worthy of care â€” spread through newscasts, talk shows, blogs and town hall meetings. Opponents of health care legislation said it revealed the real goals of the Democratic proposals. Advocates for health reform said it showed the depths to which their opponents would sink. Still others scratched their heads and said, "Death panels? Really?"

The editors of PolitiFact.com have chosen it as our inaugural "Lie of the Year."

Such a system also, according to most health experts, exists only in the imagination of Palin and others who took up the phrase as a cudgel against the legislation, which ultimately passed with no Republican support and was signed into law by President Obama in March 2010.

I actually don't have a problem with "death panels" if my tax dollars are paying for it. We simply cannot afford to spend 50% of one's medical costs in the last month or so of life to buy some 91 y/o another few days. You should of course be allowed to get whatever care you want if you pay for it. The problem is they know full well a one-payer system will drive private insurance out of the market and that their own needs will always be met because they're elites.

The atttitude of providers today is already lousy, just imagine if they're the only game in town and get paid the same whether they do a good job or not. And of course as budgets squeeze they'll be underpaid and pissed off and that will make them work even less hard to treat you properly. You'll get 5 minutes and be shown the door. "because I only get $45 for this and I have a beach home to pay for". And with the lower pay will come massive shortages of doctors, as it ain't cheap to get that education. The talent will flow into more lucrative fields.

its funny how half the time they are crying he expanded healthcare, and the other half of the time they are crying he made cuts to heathcare.
why do you support people who are disingenuous and dishonest? stand up for your values

i do have trouble understanding your position, because it changes.
are you for, or against free healthcare?

just admit that they hate the guy no matter what he does

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i am absolutely against extra-constitutional entitlement programs masquerading as "rights". that includes free health care.

it's not that i enjoy paying doctor bills; i don't. i just notice that everywhere they have given free healthcare, they have ended up suffering the consequences. fewer and worse doctors. nurses treating instead of doctors. now we a red hot stock for a company selling vending machines distributing medical supplies to the public.

what good is "free healthcare for all!" if the doctors quit? if the hospitals close? if the cost comes at the expense of free market capitalism? of my freedoms? of my conscience?

you can NEVER have enough free stuff on hand when you offer free stuff to everybody.